Prisons Struggling To Cope With The Increase In Elderly Inmates

A Prison Reform Trust report says that prisons are struggling to cope with the increase in elderly, sick and disabled people behind bars.

It reveals that those aged 60 and over are the fastest growing population in English and Welsh prisons, with an increase of 146% between 2002 and 2014. Those aged 50-59 are the second fastest-growing group.

Longer sentences mean more people are growing frail in prison, but high rates of social and support needs are unmet, says the trust. It added that two in five prisoners over 50 now have a disability of some kind.

Trust director Juliet Lyon said: "In the last few years, prison has been reduced to a punitive holding operation for people growing older and sicker behind bars. Prisons are less safe and less decent than they were even a year ago when we published our last report."

The proportion of prisons whose performance is "of concern" or "of serious concern" according to the National Offender Management Service has risen from 13% in 2012-13, to 23% in 2013-14.

Prison mental health team stretched by 'serious' increase in demand - 9/28/2012 - Community Care

Photograph by Mikecogh

In more news on mental health, prisons watchdog warns of "serious and sharply increasing" problem of prisoners presenting with mental health and personality disorders.

An annual report to ministers by the independent monitoring board at HMP Pentonville revealed mental health teams at the prison received 24 referrals a week in 2011/12, up from 18 referrals a week last year. Incidents of self harm had also “increased very significantly” over the last year.


The watchdog said the reasons behind the spike in mental health demand at the prison “were not fully understood”. But it warned of the need for extra resources to bolster the mental health support on offer.

The full article is available to read here in Community Care:
Prison mental health team stretched by 'serious' increase in demand - 9/28/2012 - Community Care

Some Recent New Government Reports & Statistics

The Government has published the following reports, which may be of interest:

• Positive for Youth: a new approach to cross-government policy for young people aged 13 to 19. HM Government Report covering a wide range of issues, including education, youth services, health, crime and housing.
• Children entering detention held solely under Immigration Act powers November 2011.
  Home Office figures.
• Deaths in prison custody 2011. Ministry of Justice. Provisional statistics including a table on Self-Inflicted Deaths in Prison Custody (England and Wales) by Age.
  
  
  

New Report About Trauma & Violence in the Lives of Young People

A new report by Roger Grimshaw for the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies has been published: My story: young people talk about the trauma and violence in their lives.

The report was compiled through a series of in-depth conversations with young people imprisoned for serious violent acts. It offers an insight into the kind of severe, multiple and prolonged trauma experienced by many who while still children go on to perpetrate violent offences. The trauma recounted by the story tellers includes: witnessing domestic violence; abandonment and loss; neglect; sexual and physical abuse; kidnapping; growing up in a family where crime and violence is a normal state of affairs.
Published 23 November 2011
http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/mystory.html

Equal but different? New report on alternatives to custody for women from HMI Probation

A new report from HMI Probation has been published on: Equal but different? An inspection of the use of alternatives to custody for women offenders.

Website of the Week: Justice

The Justice website is a UK Government website aimed at all those working within and reliant upon information produced by the justice system. The site contains many free to download publications and reports including:

• The latest justice related news
• Court, criminal justice and prison statistics
• Research and reports
• Guidance on a wide range of policy areas including freedom on information, human rights, prisons and probation, youth justice and protecting vulnerable adults
• Consultations on reforms & changes to the law
  

Community Sentences: How Effective Are They?

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has published a report questioning community sentences’ role in efforts to control the use of custody.

The report looks back at attempts over the last decade to reduce prison demands by reforming community sentences and promoting their use to sentencers and the public. It argues that at best such reforms might have contributed to slowing future prison growth but they do not offer a coherent, credible solution to tackle a prison population nearly double that of the generation before.
You can download the full report here: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/rssasolutiontopenalexcess.html